Cardiff
There's a medieval keep at its heart, but it's the later additions to Cardiff Castle that really capture the imagination. In Victorian times, extravagant…
Must-see attractions in Wales
Cardiff
Devoted mainly to natural history and art, this grand neoclassical building is the centrepiece of the seven institutions dotted around the country that…
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct & Canal World Heritage Site
Snowdonia & the Llŷn
The preeminent Georgian engineer Thomas Telford (1757–1834) built the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805 to carry the canal over the River Dee. At 307m long, 3…
Cardiff
Also known as Millennium Stadium ('Principality' is the current naming-rights sponsor), this spectacular venue squats like a stranded spaceship on the…
-
St Fagans National History Museum
Cardiff
Historic buildings from all over the country have been dismantled and re-erected in the semirural surrounds of St Fagans village, 5 miles west of central…
Cardiff
The centrepiece and symbol of Cardiff Bay's regeneration is the £106-million Wales Millennium Centre, an architectural masterpiece of stacked Welsh slate…
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Dramatically perched atop a steep limestone crag, high above the River Cennen, are the brooding ruins of Wales' ultimate romantic castle, visible for…
Cardiff
Flanked by the castle and the River Taff, Bute Park was donated to the city along with the castle in 1947. With Sophia Gardens, Pontcanna Fields and…
-
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
Edward I finished this intimidating yet aesthetically pleasing castle in 1289, the southernmost of his 'iron ring' of fortresses designed to keep the…
-
Snowdonia & the Llŷn
For a glimpse of the life of the British upper class in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the 'upstairs-downstairs' social hierarchy of their bygone world,…
-
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Ascending Pen-y-Fan (886m), the tallest peak in the Brecon Beacons, is one of the most popular hikes in the park (around 350,000 people make the climb…
-
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Originally the home of the Vaughan family, Tretower gives you two historic buildings for the price of one: the sturdy circular Norman keep, now roofless…
-
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Halfway up a thickly forested hillside in the Vale of Eywas, this tiny 11th-century church is like a time capsule of Welsh faith and culture, buried too…
-
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
The 28-sq-mile Gwydyr Forest, planted since the 1920s with oak, beech and larch, encircles Betws-y-Coed and is scattered with the remnants of lead and…
-
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
Even if you're not enraptured by industrial museums, ignore the dull-sounding name and check this one out. At Dinorwig Quarry much of the slate was carved…
-
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
You're likely to have the impressive remains of Garn Goch to yourself. One of the largest Iron Age sites in Wales, it comprises a smaller hill fort…
-
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Halfway along the impossibly beautiful Vale of Ewyas lie the atmospheric ruins of this Augustinian priory, set among pasture and wooded hills by the River…
-
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
Blaenau's main attraction takes you into the bowels of a Victorian slate mine. You descend the UK's steepest mining cable railway into the 1846 network of…
-
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
Recently opened in the Edwardian-era police station (hence 'Cell B'), this multifunction centre hosts everything from yoga to live bands to screenings in…
Cardiff
Cardiff Castle's fanciful little brother sits perched atop a thickly wooded crag on the northern fringes of Cardiff. It was the summer retreat of the…
Cardiff
This venerable cathedral is set in a hollow near the River Taff, on the site of a 6th-century monastery founded by St Teilo. The present building was…
Cardiff
Designed by Lord Richard Rogers (the architect behind London's Lloyd's building and Millennium Dome and Paris' Pompidou Centre), the home of the National…
Cardiff
Long, narrow Roath Park rivals Bute Park as Cardiff's favourite green space. The third marquess of Bute gifted the land to the city in 1887, when the…
Cardiff
One of the waterfront's few Victorian remnants, Pierhead is a red-brick and glazed-terracotta French Gothic confection, built in 1897 with Bute family…
Cardiff
Croeso (welcome) to a bastion of the Welsh language in the overwhelmingly English-speaking capital. Cardiff's beautiful Old Library has been converted…
Cardiff
Looking as though it's popped out of the pages of a story book, this white-slatted wooden building with a black witch's-hat spire was modelled on a…
Cardiff
A graceful Gothic tower rises from this 15th-century church, its delicate stonework looking almost like filigree. Along with the castle keep, this is one…
Wales
Penarth's rock-strewn shoreline may not be particularly attractive but it is the closest beach to Cardiff. In 1894 it was graced with that icon of the…
Cardiff
For over a decade Cardiff has been the filming location for famed TV series Doctor Who and its spin-off, Torchwood. In 2009 one of the main characters of…
-
Dan-yr-Ogof National Showcaves Centre for Wales
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
The limestone plateau of the southern Fforest Fawr is riddled with some of the largest and most complex cave systems in Britain. Most can only be visited…
-
Cardiff
Completed in 1999 at a cost of £220 million, this large dam plugged the gap between Penarth and Porth Teigr, containing the waters flowing out from the…
-
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Perched on a hill above the River Honddu, Brecon Cathedral was founded in 1093 as part of a Benedictine monastery, though little remains of the original…
-
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
More than just Dinorwig Power Station's public interface, Electric Mountain is a tourist hub incorporating a gallery, cafe and souvenir shop. It also has…
-
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
The Ugly House isn't actually ugly at all. This unusual cottage is constructed from huge boulders and is home to a characterful tearoom and, upstairs, the…
-
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
A series of dramatic waterfalls lies between the villages of Pontneddfechan and Ystradfellte, where the Rivers Mellte, Hepste and Pyrddin pass through…
-
Snowdonia & the Llŷn
Marking the site at which St Winefride was supposedly martyred (and revived by her uncle, St Bueno) is the holy well which gave the town its name. It's…
-
Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)
The Mawddach Estuary is a striking sight, flanked by woodlands, wetlands and the mountains of southern Snowdonia. There are two Royal Society for the…
-
Cardiff
The unusual shape of this large public space is due to its past life as the basin of the West Bute Dock. A large rectangular dock once extended from here…
-
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Of the glacially sculpted hills that surround Abergavenny, Skirrid (486m) is the most dramatic looking and has a history to match. A cleft in the rock…
-
Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog
Though Wales has a long history of spirit distillation, this boutique distillery released its first malt whisky only in 2004, marking the resurgence of…
